Humidor



June 2, 1964 R. BINGHAM 3,135,565

HUMIDOR Filed Aug. 30, 1961 United States Patent O 3,135,565 HUMIDOR Richard Bingham, 1732 N. Park Ave., Chicago, Ill. Filed Aug. 30, 1961, Ser. No. 134,993 3 Claims. (Cl. 312-31) This invention relates to a humidor for tobacco and is adapted for the storage and humidifying of tobacco in its three smoking forms; namely, cigars, cigarettes and pipe mixtures.

It is an object of the invention to provide a humidor in which stored tobacco may be supplied with moisture in desired amounts.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a humidor in which the stored cigars, cigarettes or smoking tobacco may be readily removed therefrom without disturbing the humidifying element of the humidor.

Briey, the humidor comprises an open receptacle, a tobacco vcontainer which fits therein, alid for the receptacle and sponge'means which provide the moisture. The receptacle has an inwardly extending lip with openings therein. Within the receptacle and below the openings inthe lip is the spongemeans capable of giving oi water vapor or moisture. The lip supports the tobacco container and the lid, the latter having notches therein which may be aligned with the lip openings. When so aligned, moisture from the sponge passes through the lip openings and the notches in the llange of the lid into the interior of the tobacco container. The lid may be rotated to disalign the notches in the flange and the openings in the lip and thereby close oi the moisture supply to the tobacco-container. In this manner, the instant humidor supplies controlled amounts of moisture to the tobacco.

The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, taken with further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 represents a cross-sectional view of the humidor of the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the humidor shown in FIGURE l taken along lines A-Ag and FIGURE 3 represents a partial cross-sectional view of a modification of the instant humidor.

Referring now to FIGURES 1 and 2, the humidor contains an open, cylindrical receptacle 1 having an inwardly extending annular lip 2 with diametrically disposed openings 11 therein. An annular flange 3 extends upwardly from the lip 2. Below the annular lip 2` and extending around the internal periphery of the receptacle 1 is a sponge 4 heldin place by a wire or screen means 5. The sponge 4 may be a piece of sheet sponge which has been rolled into an annular shape prior to being placed into the humidor.

A tobacco container 6, which is cylindrically shaped in the instant embodiment, is insertable into the receptacle 1. The tobacco container 6 contains a flange 7 which rests upon the annular flange 3 to support the container 6 in the receptacle 1.

The humidor `8 contains a linger knob or handle 9 and a downwardly depending annular iiange 10 which isadapted to rest upon the lip 2 when the lid 8 is placed on the receptacle 1. VThe flange 10 of the lid 8 has diametrically disposed notches or openings 12 therein which may be aligned with the openings 11 in the lip 2 for reasons more apparent hereinafter. The notches 12 in the ange 10 have a vertical dimension sufiiciently large that they extend above the flange 7 when thelid is placed upon the lip 2 of the receptacle 1. The lid 8 may be rotated upon the lip 2 to eiect alignment or disalignment of the notches 12 with the openings 11 as desired.

JCC

The tobacco, cigarettes or cigars to be stored in the instant humidor are placed in the tobacco container 6. Water is poured into the open receptacle 1 or, if the container 6 has been placed in the receptacle as shown in FIGURE l, it may be poured into the humidor through the openings 11 in the annular lip 2. Water in excess of that which will be absorbed by the sponge 4 may be placed in the receptacle. In fact, excessl water 13 is desirable for it replenishes the sponge 4, which is losing water in vapor form to humidity the tobacco. VWith the tobaccocontainer 6 in place upon the flange` 3, .the lid `8 is then placed on the annular lip 2 and the lid 8 rotated upon the lip 2 until the notches 12 and the openings 11 are aligned. The lid and receptacle may have marks on the outside thereof which indicate the position of the notches 12 and the openings 11, respectively, to aid in their alignment.

When the notches 12 and the openings `11 are aligned the tobacco in the container 6 will receive moisture in the form of water vapor from the water in the sponge 4. The water vapor or moisture passes from sponge 4 through the openings 11 and the notches 12 into the container 6. The Water lost from sponge 4 by vaporization. of the water therein is replenished by the excess water in the receptacle which is in contact with sponge 4.

When the stored tobacco, cigarettes or cigars do not require any additional moisture,the humidifying capacity of the humidor is terminated by rotating'the lid 8 with `the finger knob or handle 9 to disalign the notches 12 and openings 11 and thereby closing off the openings 11. In` this manner theinstant humidor Vprovides means for supplying controlled amounts of moisture to tobacco, cigarettes or cigars which are stored in the container 6. Of course, the tobacco may be removed from or additional tobacco placed in the humidor by merely removing the lid 8 to afford access to the tobacco container 6.

FIGURE 3 illustrates a modification of the humidor hereinbefore described with respect to FIGURES 1 and 2. The modified humidor contains an L-shaped ange 14 which extends downwardly from the annular lip 2. The upper portion of the horizontally disposed free leg of the L-shaped flange 14 is the seat upon which the ange 7 of the container 6 rests to support the tobacco container 6. The advantage of this modied humidor is that the notch 12 of the lid 8 need not be as large as the notches 12 in the humidor of FIGURES l and 2, since the former notches do not have to extend above the flanges 3 and 7 as in FIGURE 1. In all other respects the operation and structure of the modified humidor is the same as that of the humidor described in FIGURES l and 2.

It will be understood that though lid 8 has been illustrated as a hollow member, it may, of course, be a solid wooden member or the like. If it is a solid member the communication between the openings 11 and the container 6 may be provided by notches or passageways in the ange 10 similar to those already discussed.

It will be further understood that though the illustrated humidors are cylindrically shaped, other shapes would be suitable to effect the same results. For example, the receptacle, lip, lid and container may have square, horizontal cross-sections. In such a modification the lip 2 and flange 10 have the openings and notches, respectively,

cations discussed the sponge need not extend around the entire internal periphery of the receptacle of the humidor. It is only necessary that the strip of sponge be suliciently large enough to supply the desired amount of moisture to the tobaccocontainer. 41t is preferred that the sponge extend to the bottom of the receptacle so that it will be in contact with any excess water which may be in the bottom of the receptacle.

While several embodiments described herein are at present considered to be preferred, it is understood that various modifications and improvements may be made therein, and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications and improvements as fall within the true scope and spirit of the invention.

Whatris desired to be claimed and secured by Letters Patent of. the United States is:

1. A humidor for tobacco or the like comprising a pair of cylindrical containers, one smaller than the other, the smaller thereof being removably mounted within the larger and being adapted to hold tobacco or the like, an inwardly extending annular lip within said'larger container for mounting the smaller container in such position that an annular space is provided between the side walls vof said containers'and the bottom of the small container is spaced above the bottom of the larger container, said larger container holding water in the space in the bottom thereof, moisture absorbing means mounted in said annular space and in submerged relationship to any water contained in said larger container, passagemeans comprising an opening in said annular lip for the passage of moisture from said moisture absorbing means into said smaller container, and a-lidv for said containers having an annular flange extending downwardly therefrom and seating loosethe atmosphere, said annular flange further having a notch which may be aligned with respect to said opening in said annular lip by rotation of said lid to provide, or prevent, respectively, communication between said smaller and larger containers, whereby the introduction of moisture into the smaller container may be controlled by changing the position of said movable lid.

2. The humidor of claim l wherein said annular lip has an annular upwardly extending flange and said smaller container has an annular, horizontally disposed flange which is adapted' to rest upon said upwardly extending liange to support said smaller container.

3. The humidor of claim 1 wherein said annular lip has an annular, downwardly extending, substantially L- shaped ilange having an inwardly extending free leg and said smaller container has a horizontally disposed ilange which is adapted to rest upon the free leg of said L-shaped flange to support said smaller container.

References Cited in the rile of this patent UNITED lSTATES PATENTS 831,673 Lynn Sept. 25, 1906 1,003,112 Johnson Sept. 1.2, 1911 1,067,688 Shirey July 15, 1913 1,090,693 Danforth Mar. 17, 1914 1,318,790 Murrayy Oct. 14, 1919 1,640,190 Heinson Aug. 23, 1927 1,648,725 Endicatt Nov. 8, 1927 1,938,385 Hauch Dec. 5, 1933 2,671,707 Lombard Mar. 9, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 462,003 Germany June 30, 1928 546,826 Belgium Apr. 30, 1956 555,167 France Mar. 16, 1923 

1. A HUMIDOR FOR TOBACCO OR THE LIKE COMPRISING A PAIR OF CYLINDRICAL CONTAINERS, ONE SMALLER THAN THE OTHER, THE SMALLER THEREOF BEING REMOVABLY MOUNTED WITHIN THE LARGER AND BEING ADAPTED TO HOLD TOBACCO OR THE LIKE, AN INWARDLY EXTENDING ANNULAR LIP WITHIN SAID LARGER CONTAINER FOR MOUNTING THE SMALLER CONTAINER IN SUCH POSITION THAT AN ANNULAR SPACE IS PROVIDED BETWEEN THE SIDE WALLS OF SAID CONTAINERS AND THE BOTTOM OF THE SMALL CONTAINER IS SPACED ABOVE THE BOTTOM OF THE LARGER CONTAINER, SAID LARGER CONTAINER HOLDING WATER IN THE SPACE IN THE BOTTOM THEREOF, MOISTURE ABSORBING MEANS MOUNTED IN SAID ANNULAR SPACE AND IN SUBMERGED RELATIONSHIP TO ANY WATER CONTAINED IN SAID LARGER CONTAINER, PASSAGE MEANS COMPRISING AN OPENING IN SAID ANNULAR LIP FOR THE PASSAGE OF MOISTURE FROM SAID MOISTURE ABSORBING MEANS INTO SAID SMALLER CON- 